Goings On

Our family took a mini vay-cay to a nearby beach this week in honor of our homeschool starting up again, as well as things ramping up a little here with the ministry.  You know how sometimes a vacation can turn out to be kind of the opposite of relaxing? Yeah, although we did have fun we were glad to be home again after a day and a half of bumpy roads, loo-oong border crossings, too much sun and way too many crowds! The kids came away thinking it was a great time, so I guess that was a win...? I came away thinking "Nice house, nice house! I promise I'll never leave you again!" Lol.

Lo-ong border waits!

Little ham!

                                                             

Well, at least she found it relaxing! :)

                                                   

It's funny but every time I think "Aaah, now we're heading into a calmer season," things always tend to get busier. Which is great really, God is good! We are starting up a new children's program on Saturday mornings and we're excited about that. It will be headed by one of the young women in the Church who has a great passion for children and has been desiring to help out in any way she can. This same girl also translates for me during the Girl's Bible Study. Despite the many obstacles and the oppression she and her family have faced and continue to face she has a true servant's heart and I thank God for her, she is one of my best friends. Other members of our Church group are eager to help with this as well and we would love prayer over this time, for the children who come, for their families who will also be positively touched by this, as well as for the group leading it. Another prayer request concerning the children's ministry is supplies. We don't have much to work with at the moment, so if you feel moved to donate particularly towards the children's ministry it would be greatly appreciated and well used. If you were thinking of sending something specific, the group's immediate needs are craft supplies, markers, crayons, water color paper, etc. simple Bible teaching materials, that sort of thing. Also group games, Twister for example, or others.

Waiting for the kids to arrive!

                                                         

A game of "Simoni thot" (Simon says!)

                                               

Prayers appreciated as we head into our next season of homeschooling. Adelina will officially be in second grade, Teuta in Kindergarten, Albulena will be into a bit of light pre-schooly stuff, and Violeta into, well, everything -the cupboards, the toilet, all of her sisters' most special Untouchable things... Haha. We'll be using a more formal curriculum this year, but still with a lot of eclectic stuff thrown in to make it interesting. Prayers for me and my Patience *and my sanity :) for organization, prayers that the girls will respond well to it all, prayers that I'll remember that they don't have to Learn All The Things in the world in this one short year, lol, since I tend to get over-zealous and then easily discouraged (not a productive combo.)

The Girl's Bible Study is going very well, I am really enjoying our weekly discussions. The girls who have been coming have really opened up and seem eager to dig in. This week we'll be talking more about honoring God with our lives and comparing Romans 12 with several passages in 1 Peter as a spin off from last week's talk on ways that our lives bring glory to God. Next week we'll be discussing Discernment.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that one of the young men in our church felt led to begin a young boy's Bible Study in the village. One evening a week he gathers all the boys in the field for a soccer game and then has a time of teaching. The last time we were out in the village (Krevasarie, Hasan's home village) I saw a TON of kids heading down there for that, praise the Lord! Prayers as this continues and grows!

We were recently able to purchase a van for Church use and wanted to give another huge THANK YOU! To our friends at RBC who funded that! I have tears in my eyes just thinking of their love and generosity, we were and continue to be SO blessed.

In Him~ Jacquelyn

An Owl And A Prayer

In local superstition, the hooting of an owl on a roof signals impending calamity.

Lord I pray 
That "the world is hurting my heart tonight."
Would become
"My heart is hurting for the world today."

They're immensely different,
Don't you see?
Switching to empathy for others
From pity for me.

An owl is hooting far away,
A plane was shot out of the sky they say,
Homes being swallowed in fiery rage,
Children being trafficked,
I could fill up this page!

You can't even take
A quick glance around
Without seeing that
Atrocities abound.

Harassment, violence,
Suffering in spades,
And for hundreds this moment
the light of life fades.

O Lord, may your kingdom come!
And end the evil being done.
So many who don't even know you...
O what can my feeble light do?
Lord, though mine is small,
Let it shine bright and true,
Reflecting your glory,
For to you it is due.
All who are hurting
-And that is no few-
All who need rest,
Lord guide them to you.

On a rooftop somewhere,
Far away,
An owl hoots,
Signaling end of day.
Night falls softly,
With no other sound.
We thank God that his mercy
And love abound.

August Musings

Summer is flying by on wings that flash one day with sunlight, another with lightning. As much as I love the sunshine, hours at the pool side, picking plums in the lanes, the beautiful Summer storms, and the freedom Summer seems to bring, I am happy that fall will be upon us soon with cooler weather and long, golden days.

We've been here over two years now and I look back over that time with... What? Examining, I feel joy mingled with sadness, heartbreak and elation, I once said Kosovo is a land of contrasts, and it seems the missionary life is that as well.
Overall though a sense of accomplishment, of steadfastness.
And what more could one ask?
The two years have not been easy, and though no one said they would be, I expected different hardships than the ones which came to us. I joked with Hasan once that it felt we were being baptized by fire, and so it has been.
My hope and prayer is that whatever we go through we will come through purified, refined, and I continue to hope to this end. We don't always react as we should, we have flaws. Missionaries certainly are not perfect, we struggle and flounder like anyone else. We can only give our broken lives and trust that our perfect God will turn them into something beautiful, something that brings Him glory. We have all seen this in our lives and we know that our hope is an eternal one, sure, a hope that has already been fulfilled in the promises given to us.
So we press onward. We look forward to the things this next year will bring, knowing that they may be hard or good or both, but that they will certainly grow and better us.

Blessings to you all~

What challenges have you faced lately? How have you seen God at work through those?